Well, we thought we’d been a few months since posting, but didn’t realise that it has now been one year, almost to the day! Sorry if you’ve been waiting for more posts – we promise to fill in the gap over the next few weeks.
Anyway – to Spring! The country here has undergone a transformation. After the bleakness of winter we had the transition to gold. First the daffodils, now the rape crops are filling the fields with bright yellow and gold.
The trees are all green (except for the palm in our front yard which seems not to have survived the harsh winter), the hedges have gone from masses of sticks to lush green and flowering and the songbirds are out. From about 4.30 in the morning. While we’d be happy if they slept in a little longer in the morning it is something special to hear blackbirds, robins and a host of other songbirds when we wake up. There’s even a cuckoo nearby who doesn’t seem to understand that he’s only supposed to make his noise on the hour.
We’ve just come off a couple of weeks of stunning clear weather which happily coincided with school holidays and a week off for Scott. He had to work in Nottingham for a couple of days (Thursday and Friday) at the end of the first week of the school holidays, so we upgraded the hotel to a family room and Carolyn and the kids spent some time exploring Nottingham during Scott’s working days, in nice weather for once. On Saturday we packed the car up and spent the day at Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire. The house had belonged to Bess of Hardwick, the Countess of Shrewsbury. It is a magnificent property with wonderful gardens. We were fortunate to encounter a chaffinch warbling and singing while we stood just a few feet away. Unfortunately we couldn’t time a photo of it actually doing this, so you’ll have to take our word for it. There was also a lovely pear and apple orchard and many, many blossoms. They even had a wattle tree in bloom.
We decided to make the most of the good weather during the holidays and get out to visit some new and familiar places. Belton House is a favourite and we had a great day walking through the vast gardens which were full of spring blooms. And of course it was Rosings Park in the BBC’s Pride and Prejudice, so we can always imagine Colin Firth striding along the footpaths, brooding about something. In case you’re wondering about the close up of Jack - Scott was lining up a nice picture of Carolyn looking along the “approach to Rosings Park” path when Jack (with perfect timing) stuck his head in the way to ask “what are you doing Dad?”. Apparently taking a photo of you, Jack!
Another day trip took us to Peckover House in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. This is a town house with a beautiful 2 acre garden – well worth a visit if you are ever in the area. Wisbech was the home of Thomas Clarkson who, with William Wilberforce and others, played such an important role in getting slavery abolished, so there is a monument to him just a short walk from Peckover House.
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